I thought it was more fun in the old days when crossbows were less accurate to begin with with slower flying bolts, did more damage (it was 75p for a light crossbow) and you could have maybe 2 HA skill. You could shoot with so-so accuracy at ranges you could use a lance, but it'd actually kill a lancer first go (that said, he'd also kill you, and firing at ranges above lance range was incredibly inaccurate).
Then they decided horse ranged should be more viable and HA skill became 1/6 agi as it is now, and the long series of archery nerfs made riding horses more popular to begin with (back then, all infantry had a shield except complete masochists).